Monthly Archives: February 2016

March is a game changer. It launches with words and ideas kicking us into action and ends with desires and perspectives blowing wide open. In between is a combination tsunami and whirlwind of activity, emotional, mental and in the circumstances of our lives. Comings and goings, blossomings and endings, cleaning up and clearing out consume the month. In their wake they leave a blend of catharsis, relief, emotional outpouring and firm resolve. And likely spinning heads.

Not surprisingly, March is one of the most astrologically action-packed months of the year. Its four weeks contain two eclipses (one pumping the gas pedal on a cycle, the other wrapping a cycle up), more work on the upheaval of the last four years, and three planets changing signs.
Amid so much activity, each beat will be hard to distinguish. Instead, it will feel like we’re being hit with successive waves. Some of them grow out of the previous one, some are resurgences of the past (eight months, a year, 18 months, four years and 19 years ago are probable time frames), and some will come from places our conscious mind has no ability to pinpoint.

The Pisces New Moon on the 8th is the first eclipse, a solar. Bigger-is-better Jupiter and Chiron, influence of healing, are in the mix. They’re making emotions, boundary and underdog issues and longstanding wounds crest into tsunamis, washing away some people and situations while depositing or anointing others.

Although the waters are surging and receding for weeks, the ebb tides reveal surprisingly stable ground. Jupiter is making the second of three assists to Pluto, the agent of unavoidable change. (The other two were last September and will be again in June.) Their teamwork is beaming right into the construction zone you know as the areas of your life that have undergone utter upheaval in the past four years.

The effect is two-sided. On the positive end, new or rebuilt structures are taking on more solid contours. Supports are sinking deeper. On the less immediately pleasant end, Jupiter’s golden light is reaching deeper into cracks that have opened up in recent years. No end of frightened and frightening psychological beasties are crawling to the surface. (Just look at the news, and behavior on social media.) Watch for stirrings, of your own, of your friends’, and neutralize the beasties gently. “I wish you all the love and happiness I wish for myself” is a useful mantra. Say it even if you don’t mean it. To yourself, of course. Voicing that to someone’s face could get you punched, in the current climate.

Chapters are closing in relationships, our attitudes toward them and our operating ground rules with the second eclipse, the Libra Full Moon on the 23rd. All have been up for resetting and rebooting since October 1993. Since then we’ve reached increasing awareness of compromises and settling that can not continue. Even with the adjustments we’ve already made or experienced, with this lunar eclipse come decisive strikes underscored with “And I really mean it!”

Throughout all of this, logic is hardly the navigational system. Mercury, the planet the rules our thoughts, words and how we get around, unhooks all of his terrain from the rational and concrete when he travels through Pisces from February 5-21. Telepathy, impressions and osmosis will abound. They’ll carry more reliability than anything you read, hear or see. When they contradict empirical evidence, trust them.

Starting with the 21st, communication and transportation shift to Aries and leap first, think later mode. Though more more energetic, bold and decisive than Pisces, this mode is another flavor of intuition and instinct, going on gut rather than thinking about and evaluating evidence and plans of action.

We get a foretaste of this forceful, aggressive potential at the month’s start, when Mercury slams into Mars, lord of war and the ruler of Aries, and shoves minds, mouths and tempers into action. That same day, March 5, Mercury heads for Pisces (see above) and Mars enters Sagittarius. Agendas, motivations and drives become more energetic and fiery. Optimism and humor are on the rise, but so are jingoism (“My way or the highway”) and arguing over politics and theories. Physical activity is a safe outlet.

Fortunately, our hearts are not gearing up for battle. Venus, goddess of love, money and creativity, is moving into Pisces, the sign of higher love and her exaltation, on the 12th. This shift stirs a potential for compassion, kindness and gentleness, an awareness of others (some call that empathy), and an appreciation of the arts, romance and other escapes from mundane reality.

She tells Mars what she wants in no uncertain terms on the 14th. (Sparks fit for a screwball comedy could fly!) On the 20th, she dissolves in blissful communion with Pisces’ ruler Neptune. What she wants — and, by extension, what we’re looking for — mushrooms and demands satisfaction on the 25th, the very day that Saturn goes retrograde. Between then and his turnaround mid-August, we’ll be researching and tying up loose ends (perhaps legalities) to bring those desires into tangible form. An opportunity to get a taste of them opens on the 26th.

More importantly, her Piscean cloaking bodes well for coming through this month’s tumult decently, civilly and even lovingly. Let love for all beings guide your actions (say it even if you choke on it, please), and let that love begin with yourself. Exude that and endings will proceed with less rancor, while the new beginnings and blossoming of next stages will be all the more sweet.

Growth spurts are on offer. They may have something to do with ancient wounds that are stirring and easing up. And yet…remember the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me?” Not.

This year’s Virgo Full Moon encourages spring cleaning a month ahead of the usual schedule. And as with so many jobs, this one begins on the inside.

Our perception of our identity and personality is the starting point. Recent weeks have brought our thinking, priorities and goals into sharper focus. The rocket power of the Aquarius New Moon on February 8 has broken us out of situations, patterns and perspectives and lit a fire in our bellies. Now we’re moving into awareness of how we feel and seeing ourselves differently, too.

Our sense of self is blurring, softening and in some ways dissolving. This process comes from the Sun’s approach to Neptune, ruler of Pisces and all things transcendent and escapist. It will only escalate as the Sun moves across this influence, which is the most unhinged from worldly experience. For some of us, this means a not-yet-defined sense of needing some bigger purpose or more creative, spiritual or personally meaningful experience of ourselves. For others, it translates into confusion about who we are — or want to be — at this point.

It’s as if we’ve stepped out of the shower and are looking into a mirror that’s fogged over. This Moon is handing us a towel so we can wipe the fog away and see ourselves. The symbolic towel uses emotions to clear the fog, but not with the watery, gushy expression we usually associate with feelings. Virgo is the most analytical, evaluative Moon, running emotional experience through the mind and a perspective that’s bent on tidying up and improvement.

Adding to the logic-driven (or, at least, intellectual) nature of this process is the trend toward stabilizing, ordering and concretizing we’re currently undergoing in how and what we’re thinking, in our information flow and in how we communicate. Cosmic messenger Mercury, ruler of our minds as well as Virgo, is moving into a cooperative link with Saturn, lord of structure. Concepts are taking shape and coming down to earth, along with both a big-picture perspective and awareness of ramifications, consequences and the imperative to take responsibility for our thoughts and words.

Who is that person in the mirror? Who is it now? (Not last year, or a few years ago, or when you were growing up.) How do you feel about what you see? Take note of the words you use to describe and define yourself. How do those make you feel? Form follows thought. Words have consequences — especially now, with Saturn and Neptune loosening and tightening a tension that gives words the power of magic spells. How could you describe yourself more positively, lovingly and compassionately? How could you upgrade your definitions? What if you were to define yourself more in terms of the dreams and creativity you’re bringing into being (i.e., where you’re going), instead of where you’ve been?

Two more lines of questions are particularly worthwhile. How do you feel about all that recently honed clarity, the changing and rearranging in goals, perspective and relationships, and the developments you’ve experienced so far this year? It is right and appropriate to think over your reactions to all this, to chew and analyze and process and then assimilate. What is your heart telling you (granted, in a Mr. Spock way)? Would you benefit from cleaning up your thinking? From consciously reviewing what you believe to be true about yourself, and updating that inner list?

And what of yourself are you showing to the rest of the world? All that recently honed clarity is affecting the face you present, perhaps more than you realize. Can you consciously help that process? Can you bring that face more in line with your new inner clarity? Is the face you are showing true to your beliefs? Is there room for improvement? (Virgo can always find something to tweak.)

Look outward to others, too. It may be time to clean up certain situations. Or clean them out. We’re making room. This is the only Virgo Full Moon we’ll have (for 12 years) with expansive, beneficent Jupiter in the sign. He’s currently amplifying the road sign to the future (the North Node of the Moon) and making it increasingly hard to miss. He’s coaxing our vision from where we’ve been and turning it toward where we’re going, collectively and individually.

Set your own stamp on that path. Make time, amid the analyzing and tidying, for bundling all the symbolism of this forecast into some magic work. (Neptune is the planet of magic, after all.) Look into a mirror — a physical one — and say out loud who you are and who you are becoming. Play make believe, too. An Abraham game would be appropriate: finishing the phrase, “Wouldn’t it be fun if?”

Stabilizing. Perspective. Breathing room. More perspective. Then a nagging discomfort that won’t go away no matter how many times you take off your shoes and shake them out. You’ll clear it out next week.

The Year of the Fire Monkey zaps us awake and into action. Desires expand and seek physical satisfaction. Chocolate sales skyrocket. Hearts open and connect. And just in time for Valentine’s, breathing room returns.

The Aquarius New Moon motivates us with the subtlety of a lightning strike. Recent weeks have radically, permanently altered our perspective on much that is fundamental to our existence, including, and most especially, ourselves. This Moon awakens us into just how much we’ve morphed. It carries incentive — in fact, a mandate — to act on that awakening, suddenly, brazenly, unapologetically. It’s shifting change into higher gear, from internal to external, from subconscious to intentional, and from “Nope!” to “Yes, please!”

Though the timing may be sudden or unexpected, this action has been a long time coming. It’s erupting out of the rubble of the past four years, on ground that has been worked over by Uranus, agent of unpredictable change and the Aquarian Moon’s ruler, and Pluto, agent of unavoidable change. Structures, goals, relationships, foundations and more have collapsed or shape-shifted drastically, and are still in the early stages of replacement or reconstruction. Both of the cosmic change agents play a role in speeding that process along with this New Moon.

Opportunity is rampant for extricating our individual selves from both the rubble and any lingering constraints that are inconsistent with our newly honed perspective. These openings come from a cooperative link between Uranus and the New Moon, which invites you to see and be yourself more clearly. (Think of it as sharpening your personal Bat signal, so that the people looking for it will recognize you.) Breakage is part of the picture, and so, probably, is leaping into an action that you might not take if you thought about it much. Permanent damage is not likely, though, at least not to you. Besides, what is set into motion now has a air of inevitability to it. Stabilizing Saturn is moving toward an easy flow with Uranus, which will be exact by the end of the year. Current break-outs and breakthroughs are the first stages of a process that will only build and ultimately accelerate.

Pluto has a helper at this party, too, adding to the inevitable and life-changing nature of this New Moon. The cosmic shove (or boot) in the backside comes from Mars, the planet of action, churning the deep, dark waters of Scorpio. Since they are Pluto’s home base and Mars is their traditional ruler, this shove is far more than a playful suggestion. Intense, non-rational impulses and issues are at work, of will, power, stakes, fate, money, trust, reciprocity, mortality and compulsive desires.

Even though Aquarius is an intellectual sign, cellular-level desire pulses through this New Moon, which is vibrating from the union of Mars’ lady love, Venus, and Pluto on the 5th. We’ve tasted something we do not want to live without. Primal forces are stirring that override reason and steer the action. We’re in the throes of the sort of feral instinct that throws lovers in bed, whatever the cost, or causes a wolf to bite off its paw to get free from a trap. Cue “Moonstruck.” Or, for a less violent inspirational image, the “Amok Time” episode of Star Trek, in which Vulcan mating rituals turn Spock animalistic.

To some degree, we’ll all be running amok. The huge, nigh on unstoppable energy feels like the aftermath of a long period of hibernation, when every fiber of your being is screaming to come back to life. The surge is larger than a mere moon phase, but more like a new page on the calendar, like New Year’s or spring. Not surprisingly, this New Moon has links to both.

It marks the start of the Chinese Year of the Fire Monkey, a lively, unpredictable force of nature that is appropriate for this Moon’s ruler, uncontainable Uranus in the fire sign of Aries. The vitality is so palpable it will likely hit you whether you celebrate the holiday or not. The force may feel at times like kundalini awakening and rising, much like a seed bursting from its shell and sprouting through the ground in spring. Chalk this up to the many aspects amping up the fire of Uranus (sextile to the New Moon, inconjunct from Mars, trine from Saturn), in the middle of the sign of spring.

A lot is going on, and it sets the story arc of the year. True, this Moon could have some messiness and complications. They’re transitory. The gifts far outweigh an uncomfortable conversation or two. It’s an exciting, exhilarating turning point, yanking us out of stuck places, shattering armor and chains (largely in our thinking), sending us running toward what we want (instead of away from what we don’t want) and challenging us to live our own lives, please. That doesn’t necessarily mean, alone. Deepening intimacy is in the mix for many of us. Being yourself is key.